Snowpoint
by Aoi Hotaru
Summary: Hikari goes to Snowpoint City a while after ending her relationship with her mother. She then decides to stop all contact with Jun, too. Why would she do this? How will Jun react? (I know it's not the best summary ever, but give the story a chance.) Please read and review. I'd love to know what you think and how I can make it better.
1. Chapter 1

_Pure white snow._ It's everywhere. Dancing delicately through the air before falling to Earth; covering houses, buildings, trees—the entire city—in a seemingly infinite white blanket. The silence is so thick it almost appears as if the whole town's asleep; but a quick glance at the window of any house will show a warm, flickering fire keeping the house aglow from inside, proving that's not the case.

It's beautiful; that's the first word that comes to mind. The most amazing part is that it was this magical when I came here with my mother as a little girl. I remember my face lighting up with joy as I looked from the town awash with brilliant lights and sparkling snow to the nearby forest covered in ivory and alabaster. I found it breathtaking, as I still do. Nothing's changed here, even though I've been gone for nearly a decade. I think that's part of why I love it here so much though—things don't change. It's as if this little part of the world is isolated from everything else, allowing time to stop here; to freeze forever and perpetually remain the same. I guess I find it somewhat comforting because of all the things that do change in life.

I mean, look at the last time I was here. Things were so different back when I was little. The world was full of optimism and promises, the days filled with laughter, adventure, and fun. Back then I was still my mother's whole world, and back then she still cared. The love from those days has long faded. After I started my journey, she figured she was done with parenting and didn't have to try anymore. I'd visit home to find her nowhere in sight and the house in chaos, utterly neglected. I would desperately search through my hometown for anyone with information on her whereabouts, normally getting answers from her friends. The first time, I found out she'd gone to Veilstone City to gamble. When I finally got there, found her, and dragged her back home, she'd already lost most of our money. To pay for any new necessities on my adventure I then had to find odd jobs around whatever town or city I was in to do until I could afford what I needed. Also, we'd been living off the money left by my father when he died and some support from his family, but after suffering so much financially, my mother was forced to get a job. The only place she could get one was at a Pokémart in Sandgem Town as a store clerk.

The second time I went back home, I'd been called and personally asked to do so by our next door neighbor who was worried about my mother because she hadn't been out of the house in almost a month. After quickly flying home, I found my mother shut up in our house with a scarce amount of food. Truth be told, I was scared. I was only fourteen, how was I supposed to know what to do? I tried to talk to her, to help her. I wanted to somehow magically fix things. I discovered that she'd stopped going to work because it was far away and not worth it, according to her. Soon afterwards, she stopped going outside and just shut herself away in the house. I couldn't convince her to go back to work, but I did manage to get her to begin buying groceries and leaving the house again. However, because she had stopped working, I had to work more during my journey and start sending a certain amount to her monthly.

The third time I visited home was the last. It was about a year after she quit her job, and I was under the false impression that she was doing alright and that things were getting better. I decided to take a trip home for my mother's birthday to surprise her and found out that she'd gone on a spontaneous trip to Kanto months ago. She told Jun's mom where she was going right before she left, but didn't leave a note or anything else. Because Jun's mom had told me the last time something had gone wrong, I asked her why she hadn't called and said something. She told me that she thought she was just going on a vacation and that my mom had already told me about it. She didn't think there was a need to call because she figured that my mom would call me when she got back. I continued to call Jun's mom to check in every so often for a while to see if she'd come back. After six months with no word from my mother, I gave up. I haven't visited home since. Sometimes I still like to call Jun's mom, though, and see how she's doing. She's a warm person and she's never been anything but kind to me. She'd always try to rationalize why my mom hadn't contacted me to make me feel better. And sometimes just the fact that she tried so hard for me did cheer me up a little.

And speaking of Jun's mom, Jun's another thing in my life that has changed dramatically. When we were small, we even went to Snowpoint City together with our moms. We were the best of friends. Inseparable. No matter how much time we spent together, we'd never get bored of each other and always look forward to seeing the other the next day. Now we don't even talk to each other anymore. Granted, some of that's my fault because I've stopped answering his calls and started avoiding him in all the new cities I go to. But it's not like this is incredibly sudden or out of the blue; contact between us has been gradually diminishing for years. After the start of our journey, we began to slowly drift apart. He was always an impatient blonde tornado that had to be the best and the fastest, while I was always running behind, trying to catch up. Eventually I just realized that it was a futile, fruitless endeavor and that I couldn't. It's not surprising or unheard of; people change and drift apart all the time. But that, of course, doesn't make it any less painful.

There's something I've always known, but been too afraid to admit. It's cliché and pathetic, I know, but….. I love him. I love Jun. I've loved him since we were little. But I'm realistic; I know he doesn't feel the same way and that he probably never will. Logically, it makes sense, but… if I knew it would end this way, then why does it hurt so much? Seeing him, talking to him, being with him—they all torture me because they remind me that I'll never get to be with him. All it does is ache, so I decided to end it. I doubt he'll even notice. The only thing he'll miss is having someone to battle with, and I think that's the part that hurts the most.


	2. Chapter 2

After realizing how much time I'd spent standing out in the cold, I decided that I should probably go inside if I ever wanted to regain feeling in my extremities. I headed to the Pokémon Center to see if they had any rooms available and of course, they did. Although Snowpoint City has a gym, it's still not an incredibly popular destination for tourists or trainers. Of course there will always be some that are training at the gym, aiming for a badge, and/or visiting lake Acuity; but there are always at least a few vacant rooms at the Pokémon Center.

Upon arriving, I checked in with Nurse Joy and picked an empty room, subsequently collapsing onto the small, white bed. It was a firm mattress that wasn't all that comfortable (same goes for the matching pillow), but I was too exhausted to care. Tired and ready for sleep, I crawled under the covers and attempted to sleep. I always have a hard time falling asleep, but I managed to drift off before too long due to the fact that I was cold and worn out. I didn't have the motivation or desire to leave the warm bed (of course, everything seemed warm compared to the temperature outside), so I slept with my clothes on. It had been a long day, and it felt good to finally rest.

The next morning I awoke to my cell phone's alarm going off. Reluctantly, I sat up and silenced the phone's incessant chirping. It was a good thing I always set the alarm on my cell phone as a back-up because I'd forgotten to set the room's alarm clock last night.

I was never a morning person, but I learned to deal with being up early in the morning because throughout our childhood, Jun would wake me up at the crack of dawn constantly. It would always be for something ridiculous like he was bored, or wanted to go on an adventure and couldn't wait for me to get up on my own. It used to annoy me, but at some point I became accustomed to it; and despite myself, maybe even looked forward to it a little bit. He'd always climb up to my window and open it, inviting himself in. (He'd done it so many times that at some point, I stopped locking my window.) But his face being the first thing I saw when I woke up started to make me enjoy getting up earlier. Just a little bit. Even if the first thing I heard every day was him yelling at me to wake up already, I still liked it; I liked our routine. Sometimes I still wonder why it ever had to change. Why we can't go back to those days.

Something soft nudging my hand snapped me out of my thoughts. Looking over and realizing what it was, I rubbed my pachirisu's head. "You really are good at getting out of your pokéball aren't you?" I said as I continued patting her head. "And you love doing it."

She gave me a look that said 'duh' and jumped off the bed, scurrying over to my bag to indicate that she was hungry and ready to be fed. I told her that she could wait five seconds for me to get out the other pokémon before I fed her. By the look she gave me, I could tell that this displeased her. But that was too bad; waiting wouldn't kill her.

I proceeded to let the rest of my pokémon out of their pokéballs and gave them their food for the day. Since I decided I would take a break from my journey once I reached Snowpoint City, I only had three pokémon with me.

My three favorites to be precise: my infernape, glaceon, and pachirisu. They were my pride and joy. No one asked questions about my glaceon or infernape because I guess they assume, "Oh, they look strong enough to belong to a trainer with six badges," but I would always get asked about my pachirisu. "Why do you have such a weak pokémon?" or, "You can't win with that pokémon." Yet somehow, I seemed to manage to do just that every time, which shut them up rather quickly.

And for the trainers that don't insult my pachirisu's strength, they instead attack her looks. I can't stand some of the horrible insults she's received from superficial, ignorant trainers. The reason for their cruel comments is that the right side of her face was somewhat marred. She had a long, narrow scar across her right eye, and was missing the majority of her right ear. I'd never thought it should matter, but everyone else seemed to think that it did and that bringing it up and commenting on it was necessary.

Truth be told, I didn't want a pachirisu when I started my journey. All the trainers I had met with pachirisu chose them solely based on appearance. Those same trainers would then challenge me immediately after obtaining the newest member of their team, lose miserably, and then wonder why their pokémon weren't strong and didn't win. Needless to say, I found this stupid and disagreed with it. I despised those trainers. In fact, I never would have caught my pachirisu at all if she hadn't been so different from all the others.

The first time I heard about her was right after I'd arrived in Floaroma Town after receiving my first gym badge in Oreburgh City. I heard people in the flower shop talking about a rabid pachirisu that was supposedly aggressive and unbeatable. Curious, I asked trainers that I encountered on the way to Eterna City about it. (Of course, I had to battle most of them because the trainers that hang around routes to train are _really_ persistent about battling, whether or not you share the feeling. If you cross their path or make eye contact, you've just killed any chance you had of escape.)

Anyway, all of the ones that had heard of the infamous pachirisu said the same thing: it was violent and aggressive. Which, looking back on it, might've just been because those that actually battled the pokemon had lost. They also made more than a few negative remarks about the pachirisu's appearance, saying that its face was grotesquely marred.

Hearing more tales of the pokemon intrigued me further and I went off in search of it. After several hours of hunting for it, I finally found the pachirisu I was looking for.

Contrary to what everyone had told me, it wasn't ugly at all. Scarred, yes, but not hideous or disfigured as I had been led to believe. Seeing the pokémon made me change my mind; it was different than the others I'd seen. Instead of battling it, I decided to feed it, laying out all of my poffins before it. As the pokemon hesitantly came closer, I was able to see its scars in more detail. The majority of her right ear was missing and, based on the marks around it, appeared to have been bitten off. The slash across her right eye was thin, but long, and looked somewhat recent. I cringed, imagining how painful getting those scars must have been. Seeing the pachirisu up close, I was also able to see that it was a girl, even though all the trainers I'd spoken to had referred to it as a 'he'.

The pachirisu looked at me strangely for a moment before sprinting to the poffins, shoving as many as possible into its mouth, and then immediately dashing away. Noticing that she had only taken the sweet poffins, I packed up all my other poffins and headed back to the Pokémon Center with a small smile on my face. _How interesting that a pokemon everyone believes to be mean and bitter only loves the sweet flavor, _I thought to myself.

Over the next week, I trained my pokemon and visited the pachirisu every day. I always brought food (only sweet, of course) and talked to her a little bit. At first, she still just eyed me suspiciously, stuffed her face, and ran off; but after a while, she grew more comfortable with me and I saw that it wasn't that she had been out rightly aggressive toward other trainers for no reason—it was simply because she had been scared. I couldn't blame her for that, knowing that she'd been through some terrible things and probably didn't trust very easily. I tried my hardest to make her like me and feel safe with me. I think it worked because one day, when I was about to leave, she ran in front of me, blocking my path.

"What is it? What's wrong?" I asked, concerned.

She looked up at me with sad eyes that begged me not to go, not to leave her all alone; and for the first time I realized that she didn't like being out here by herself. That she dreaded me leaving after every visit because she was lonely. After catching that glimpse of me in her, I couldn't leave her alone. Kneeling down as close as I could get to her eye level, I asked her if she'd like to join my team. She blinked up at me several times, surprised.

"Well," I started again, "how about it? I'd love to have you on my team."

After a few seconds, she slowly began to nod her head; then she rapidly sped up, enthusiastically nodding her agreement. I laid a pokéball near her feet and she happily jumped in. Since she wasn't fighting against the pokéball, it quickly clicked its success. I then released her from the ball and walked back to the Pokémon Center with her at my heel.

That night, she slept beside me, outside of her pokéball. Before we fell asleep, I asked her what she wanted her name to be. She gestured toward me, indicating that she wanted me to choose her name. After thinking for a moment, I said, "Scarlet. Because it's a unique shade of red, and even though you're an electric type pokemon, you've got a lot of fire in you, and that's what I love about you. And also, the name Scarlet makes 'scar' sound…beautiful." As I finished my explanation, I brought her closer to my chest, hugging her tighter. She nodded her approval before curling into me and beginning to snore. I smiled at her before falling fast asleep myself. I'll never forget how I met her, and we've only grown closer since.

The sudden lack of a crunching sound in the background pulls me from my reverie and back to my pokemon, who have just finished eating. I put away their food bowls before forcing them back into their pokéballs despite their protests. It's not as if I ignore their arguments to remain outside; it's just that I can't always have them outside. I wish I could, but I can't. I try to let them out as much as possible, though. Unfortunately, Pokémon Centers usually don't like pokemon being outside their pokéballs when they're not in their trainer's room or being treated by Nurse Joy.

Grabbing all of my belongings, I prepare to head out for the day. After double checking to make sure that I have everything, I close the door to the room behind me and head down the hall. I absentmindedly scan the narrow corridor, noticing that its red and white pattern has been repainted. _I wonder why I didn't notice that yesterday? I'm normally pretty detail-oriented._

As I reach the end of the hallway, I hear two voices having a conversation. One of them sounds very familiar; so familiar that it stops me dead in my tracks. _It couldn't be…..right?_ I try not to breathe or make any noise as I attempt to eavesdrop on the exchange taking place at the counter, so that I can see if the voice actually does belong to who I think it does, or if I'm losing my mind and hearing things. _Please may I be losing my mind and hearing things. _To my dismay, a quick glance around the corner of the hall shows me that it appears I'm right.

"Did you just arrive in Snowpoint City?" I hear Nurse Joy ask, making polite conversation as she heals the trainer's pokemon.

"Yeah. It was quite a trip trying to get here. I'm glad I finally made it before I froze to death out there," the familiar voice says in response. The voice has lost most of the high pitch it possessed when it was younger, beginning to even out a bit, becoming somewhat lower and charming.

"I'm assuming you're here to get our city's gym badge, right?" the nurse asks, smiling. "Almost all of the trainers that visit here come for that reason."

He nods in response then pauses, contemplating something for a moment. "But I'm here for another reason, too. I'm looking for a friend of mine. We're on separate journeys, but we normally meet up at the towns and cities with gym badges. I couldn't find her anywhere at the last two, though, and I can't seem to get in contact with her." Pulling out an orange cell phone, he begins clicking the buttons, searching for something. Upon finding it, he turns the phone toward Nurse Joy so she can see it. "This is a picture of her. Do you think she might've passed through here?" As I hear the words leave his mouth, I get a sinking feeling in my stomach. Reassuring myself that distancing myself is the best thing for both of us, I spin around and run as quietly as I can down the hall before Nurse Joy can respond.


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm sorry it took me so long to update. I really want to thank all the people reading this and especially those who reviewed, followed or favorited. Getting those emails that tell me someone reviewed or liked my story brighten my day.**

Upon reaching the Pokémon Center's back door, I swing it open and rush outside. I quickly scan my surroundings for the best place to run to. The snow-capped forest, as large and covered as it is, stands out to me and I make a run for it. I don't stop until I'm a little ways into the forest, just far enough to be hidden behind some of the trees. Leaning against one of the tall trees to rest, I attempt to catch my breath.

Once my heart rate has slowed down, my thoughts (against my will) immediately turn to Jun. How did he find me here? Wait, he _hasn't _found me yet. _And that's the way it's going to stay, _I think to myself. I sigh, feeling somewhat guilty that Jun's been looking for me. Reminding myself once more that it's for the best, I push off the tree, standing upright on my own.

After turning around to face the direction I came from, I barely manage to stifle a scream. Standing before me in his favorite outfit of grayish-black pants, a striped orange and white polo, and his favorite green scarf (_the scarf _I_ gave him, _I think before shoving the thought from my mind) is Jun. He's panting slightly, so I can tell he's been running. He's staring straight at me and I can't help but stare back for a moment in shock before averting my gaze to the ground. "Hikari," he says softly after a few moments of silence. This reminds me of what I need to do and I look back up at him, making eye contact.

"I'm sorry," I say sincerely, smiling sadly and trying to keep my voice from cracking. Then I turn back around and start running away from him. Again. I want to slap myself for being so stupid as to letting him see me.

Soon I begin to hear footsteps; farther away at first, then rapidly becoming louder as they get closer. I glance over my shoulder and sure enough, Jun's behind me, running after me. He sees me looking at him and yells to me, "Why are you running away!?"

I blurt out the easiest answer that comes to mind, "Because you're chasing me!" I try to speed up a little so that he doesn't catch up. He's been running around everywhere he goes since he was little, so he's pretty fast; but I grew up with him and was dragged along on all of his escapades, so I learned to catch up. Now I can run as fast as he can, and because I got a head start, I should be able to stay ahead of him.

After another minute of running, I realize that I have no destination in mind. Since Jun's still chasing me, I'll have to come up with some idea of how to shake him. As I contemplate the issue, an idea springs to mind. _Of course! Why didn't I think of it before?_ I speed up, excited to start my plan.

I scan my surroundings as I continue to run, trying to figure out which part of the forest we're in. Once I get my bearings, I take a sharp left turn and glance behind me, searching for Jun's reaction. I can tell that he didn't expect me to turn because he almost slams into a tree. He stops just in time and immediately turns toward my direction and keeps running, but he's still got a puzzled look on his face.

I continue to run deeper into the forest, making occasional turns. When Jun stops nearly crashing into trees every time I change direction, I know that he's figured out where I'm headed. But that's okay; even if he knows, he can't stop me.

As my destination comes into view, I speed up a bit. I'm already trying to maintain the fastest pace that I can, but knowing that I'm almost there, I try to push myself to go a little faster. As I approach Lake Acuity, I prepare to execute my plan.

"Yuki! Blaze!" I call out as I release my pokemon. My glaceon and infernape shoot out from their pokéballs and, noticing that I'm running, begin running by my side. As we approach the water, I command Yuki to freeze a path across the water. She seems a bit confused, but she knows that I must have a plan and obeys. The three of us dash across the icy bridge to the cave. Once we're almost halfway across, I order Blaze, my infernape, to melt the path as we cross it. He sends me a questioning look, but I tell him to trust me and he nods.

I glance back at Jun again and I can tell that he didn't expect this; he barely stops himself from stepping onto the disintegrating bridge in time.

Upon reaching the cave, I stop, leaning against one of its walls for support. I look at Jun across the lake, wondering what he'll do. He stands there for a moment, silent, and I wonder what he's thinking. Then he suddenly yells something across the lake. I can't really make out what he's saying, so I yell back, "I can't hear you!"

He seems somewhat frustrated at this, but glad that I at least responded. Seconds later, his face lights up, and I can tell that he has an idea. He pulls something out of his pocket, though I can't see what, and starts doing something with it. Within a few moments, I hear my phone chirp and I pull it out to check it. It says I have one new message from Jun. Knowing that I'll regret it, but deciding to anyway, I open the message and read it. It says:

_I said, why do you keep running away from me? Did I do something?_

Against my better judgment, I immediately type out a response:

_No, of course not._

I realize after I've sent it that it was a terrible idea. Now that I've responded to him, he's going to keep trying to contact me and pry out answers this way. My thoughts are confirmed when my phone pings again shortly after I sent my message. Resigning myself to the fact that I'll have to talk to him eventually, I decide at least I don't have to have this conversation with him face to face. It would be too hard. Sighing, I read the message:

_Then why?_

Expecting this, I type back:

_I can't tell you._

_Why not?_

_I'm sorry._

_That's not an answer._

_You know I'm not going to give one. Why not just give up?_

_You know that I'm not going to give up. Why not just tell me?_

He's beginning to annoy me; I can feel a vein popping in my forehead. I quickly text back:

_Not happening._

_Same here._

_Jun, you can't stay out there forever._

_And you can't stay in there forever._

_Stop doing that!_

_Stop doing what?_

_You know what you're doing! Anyway, just leave me alone. Please._

_I'll leave you alone once you tell me why you're running away._

_Can't we just drop it?_

_Nope._

_Why not?_

I don't receive an immediate response like before, so I'm not sure if he's thinking of an answer or given up. Or if his phone died. I mean, it's Jun we're talking about here, so it's completely possible. It's happened before. Once when we were little, I thought he'd been ignoring me all day because he hadn't answered any of my texts or calls. Later that day, I found out that his phone had died and he'd forgotten to tell me.

Suddenly, I'm startled by my phone ringing. I look at it, and sure enough, it's Jun. I stare at it, contemplating which button to press. Do I answer his call or reject it? I was able to handle texting, but I'm not sure if I can handle talking to him over the phone. I wish I was stronger. I wish I'd come up with an excuse to explain all this. But I'm not, and I didn't, so I have to live with that. And the consequences that come with it.

Hesitantly, I press the green button, accepting his call. "Hello?"


End file.
